


Wake Up Call

by viennasunrise (kteaanne)



Series: Cap/IM Bingo 2016 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Nightmares, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers-centric, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 02:06:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6265390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kteaanne/pseuds/viennasunrise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony had been kidnapped and tortured in Afghanistan for three months while Steve slept in the ice... It seems only fair (for some sick reason) that Steve should lose some sleep over it now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wake Up Call

**Author's Note:**

> This fills the picture of Tony in the Mark I suit on my bingo card for round one. :)
> 
> Unbeta'd. Feel free to point out corrections!

He nearly jumped out of his skin as the jeep in front of them suddenly exploded. They jerked to a halt and the soldiers around him jumped out of the humvee… There was some part of him that knew he needed to fight back--there was something about this that was important--but he couldn’t figure out why. In his hesitation, he was nearly struck as the sides of the humvee were peppered with bullets; he had no choice but to jump out the door and try to take cover behind the nearest boulder.

It was beyond ironic that, just a few short moments later, a bomb of his own design had him bleeding into the desert floor. He passed out in short order. 

It wasn’t the pain that woke him, but the cold pressing in around him. It was always suffocating--but he couldn’t remember why. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to adjust to his new surroundings. There was a tube down his throat--a feeding tube, he thought--and he knew he shouldn’t remove it but it had to be done. That was part of the story, after all. 

It was then, as he pulled the last of the tube from his nose, that he noticed the new weight in his chest--the magnet, he remembered--and he looked down to see a mess of wires snake out from the hem of the coat he’d been stuffed into. He knew he was meant to despise whatever had been shoved in his chest, he didn’t ask for this and having a gaping hole here was going to compromise his safety and magnify his trust issues, but all he could think about was how grateful he was for the stupid magnet--how this was keeping him alive. He felt strange, almost proud of himself for no goddamn reason at all. 

There was a soft shuffling sound from the corner of the cave as Yinsen emerged from the shadows. His face was soft, clearly proud of the man he saw before him. 

“We need to finish the reactor, Tony,” he said quietly. His voice echoed in the cave. 

They got to work, Yinsen helping with the more delicate parts of the construction as his hands were too big for it. He could hold a pencil just fine but ask him to stuff his hands inside a chest cavity and he was useless. It was endlessly frustrating. Once the arc-reactor was installed, the guards came pounding through the door to take him for his daily dose of hell. 

The water was bitter cold and suffocating. Every time his head was thrown beneath the surface it stole his breath and he had to fight to keep from sucking in water. Just as he felt he was about to pass-out they would pull him up and let him breath.

When the guards finished their sick game, they tossed him back in the cavern with Yinsen and the two of them got to work on the Iron Man armor. Someday it would be sleek and beautiful (red and gold, probably) but he didn’t have the right equipment for the finer parts of the suit on hand and, anyway, Dum-E would probably love to help him figure it out when he got back to California. 

The armor was finished quickly and, before he knew it, he was strapped in while Yinsen booted up the computer. For some reason he couldn’t understand exactly how it all worked, and the anxiety of dying in the cave threatened to overwhelm him. 

The armor worked, Yinsen had to stall for time (he knew that was coming) and before he could blink he was out of the cave in the bright sunlight; dozens of men circled around him... 

This was, of course, when he shot off the flamethrower and his world burned.  
\--  
Steve awoke with a start. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and to force his heartbeat to slow. Tony’d finally opened up about what happened in Afghanistan last night--all the gorey details. It wasn’t an easy talk; Steve still knew there was more to be said before Tony would even start to work through what had happened to him. But it was a start and they needed to talk about it if they were going to stay together (and dammit if Steve wasn’t going to fight like hell to make sure _that_ happened.)

He rolled over, grateful that he and Tony’d agreed to sleep in the same bed after they’d talked. It had been too late to bother walking back down to his floor and, now that he’d had easily one of his worst nightmares in weeks, having Tony within arms reach was exactly what he needed. 

He pulled Tony over on top of him, feeling the weight in his chest anchor him to the present. Nightmares always seemed to piggyback on each other and the last thing he needed was to fall asleep and be stuck back in the ice. 

“Nghh,” Tony mumbled into his chest, “sleepin’.”

Steve kissed his forehead and ran his hand lightly down Tony’s back. “I know, go back to sleep.”

“You’k?” Tony asked, clearly too asleep to for real words.

“I am now,” Steve said, wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist, “Go back to sleep.”

Tony answered him with a soft snore.


End file.
